Maverick party leader Zulkifli Noordin today walked out of the PKR disciplinary board meeting in protest of the presence of non-Muslims on the panel.

Zulkifli said that the panel should be all Muslim because one of the charges he faced is related to the 'Allah' issue.

His demand for an all-Muslim panel was rejected by the panel members. He subsequently walked out of the meeting.

According to him, the panel was made up of one Muslim, two Christians and one Hindu.

The panel members had apparently told him that they cannot replace themselves with others because the power to appoint the panel lies with the party supreme council.

Hence Zulkifli called on the supreme council to appoint a new panel before next Tuesday.

He said if the party rejects his demand, "I would have to resign."

Zulikifli claimed two Chinese members on the panel were Christian activists.

“How can I get justice if the panel is not all-Muslim? Justice should not only be done, it should be seen to be done."

He stressed that while he respects the non-Muslims sitting on the panel, justice demands that the accused be tried by his peers, in this case Muslims.

"I do not want the hearing to be done before a board which is not Islamic as the issue in question concerns my belief, Islamic law and the 'ummah'," he told journalists after the walkout.

"For that reason, I have decided not to recognise the panel of 'Christian' disciplinary board members to discuss the issue on the use of 'Allah'.

"I believed this is a plan hatched by the 'little pharaohs' within PKR, who want to humiliate me and also Islam, by producing me before a non-Muslim disciplinary board."

Zulkifli charged that should the hearing continue and his objection dismissed, then PKR is a party which does not respect Islam and Muslims.

"I call on the party leadership to dissolve the disciplinary board."

'Don't play with my religion'

Zulkifli said he had urged the disciplinary board, in view of its multi-ethnic composition, to hear the second charge against him for criticising Penang chief minister and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng.

He said he was ready to proceed and had a 21-page statement for his defence.

"If they listen to my rebuttal, they would be crying for doing this to me because I was protecting the party," he said.

Zulkifli said he had earlier sent three letters to the board stating his objection to the presence of non-Muslims on the board, but he did not receive a reply until today.

He stressed that the only issue that will force him to quit the party is religion.

“Don't play with my religion, I will not compromise."

Asked whether he is still loyal to the party, Zulkifli said that he would be giving the party a chance to set up a new disciplinary board. “This means that I still have faith in the party.”

Zulkifli said that he will exhaust all party channels in seeking justice before making a decision on whether to follow three of his parliamentary colleagues to quit PKR.

The disciplinary board is meeting to determine the fate of the errant Kulim Bandar Baru parliamentarian.

He was asked to face the board after he made a police report against fellow Pakatan Rakyat colleague Khalid Samad, the Shah Alam MP from PAS.

Zulkifli had arrived at the PKR headquarters in Kuala Lumpur 30 minutes earlier on a Modenas motorbike wearing his trademark white 'kopiah' and white shirt.

PKR disciplinary board had on Monday postponed its hearing of the case against Zulkifli in order to consider a number of objections raised by the errant party leader.

Zulkifli had raised eight objections, among them, that PKR practises double standards because party colleagues Wee Choo Keong and Zaid Ibrahim were not hauled up by the disciplinary board.

Nothing to do with 'Allah' row

Meanwhile, PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution when contacted clarified that Zulkifli is not being produced to the disciplinary board over his stance on the Allah 'issue' or on Islam, but over his police report against Khalid.

He claims Zulkifli attempt to turn the disciplinary hearing into a racial and religious issue as "improper".

“The hearing is about Zulkifli's police report against Khalid. It is solely on that issue and nothing else. It does not have to do with the 'Allah' issue of which he had claimed,” Saifuddin said.

The disciplinary board has accorded him due process and has explained its position on the hearing, but he chose to reject the explanation and walked out on them.

“Despite this, the board will forward their recommendations to me and I will table their findings to the party's supreme council meeting on Saturday. The council will discuss the next course of action and Zulkifli can appeal the decision," he said.

On Zulkifli's threat to quit the party should the board not heed his demands, Saifuddin said it was the former's prerogative to do so.